Kaspersky Lab Announces New Kaspersky Small Office Security, Bringing Renewed Support to Small Business

Woburn, MA – November 5, 2013–Kaspersky Lab has announced a new version of Kaspersky Small Office Security, the company’s security solution built specifically for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. This solution includes new features that help small businesses stay ahead of modern security challenges, and includes Kaspersky Lab’s latest anti-malware technologies in an easy-to-use product that doesn’t require business owners to be IT experts.

According to IDC estimates, there are more than 75 million businesses worldwide that operate with fewer than 10 employees[i]. These “very small businesses” will process millions, if not billions, of dollars in 2014. Yet this segment has been traditionally under-served by IT security vendors that don’t offer products with these businesses in mind. As a result, business owners have been forced to use consumer-level products that don’t adequately meet their business needs, or stripped-down versions of enterprise-level products that are cumbersome to manage and force businesses to pay for security features they will never use. Small business owners can find valuable resources, videos and tips for selecting the right security solution on Kaspersky Lab’s new small business web page.

Kaspersky Small Office Security is designed to cater solely to the needs of these small businesses, combining powerful protection from cybercrime with the features small businesses need to compete in the global economy. Most importantly, Kaspersky Small Office Security is simple to install and manage, and offers incredible value in both purchase costs and administration time. This simplicity allows business owners to equip themselves with world-class protection without taking their focus away from running their companies.

What’s New in Kaspersky Small Office Security
Kaspersky Lab solidified its commitment to the very small business segment in 2010 with the company’s first stand-alone version of Kaspersky Small Office Security. It was then the industry’s first complete security solution built specifically for startups and growing businesses, and it is a distinction that still remains true in 2013. Kaspersky Lab has continued to improve and refine its offering over the past several years, which has earned numerous awards from third-party test organizations, including Dennis Technology Labs in 2012 and 2013. In fact, Dennis Technology Labs’ latest report, published in October 2013, ranked Kaspersky Small Office Security as the most accurate and effective anti-malware solution for small businesses, well ahead of four competing products. Built on the same award-winning platform, the latest version of Kaspersky Small Office Security includes several brand new features, and a host of technology upgrades and improvements, including:

Safe Moneyto Protect Online Banking – By automatically activating new layers of protection when users are conducting financial transactions online, businesses can now pay invoices, make purchases, and access online financial data with peace of mind. Kaspersky Lab’s award-winning Safe Money technology automatically activates an ultra-secure web browser whenever the user visits a financial site, such as an online bank or payment service. The Safe Money browser ensures no unauthorized programs can run and on-screen data is protected from key-loggers and screen-capture malware. Safe Money will also verify that the website users are connected to is authentic and has a valid certification to defeat phishing attempts, and constantly monitors the connection to ensure information is not intercepted by cybercriminals.

Enhanced Mobile Device Support – Small businesses are not immune to the challenges of protecting a mobile workforce and the fast-growing BYOD trends. Kaspersky Small Office Security now includes support for Android tablets and smartphones, equipping these devices with an array of anti-malware, web browsing protection, and privacy controls. Most importantly, these devices will now have Kaspersky Lab’s latest anti-theft technologies, allowing employees to find missing mobile devices, or remotely wipe the data from stolen mobile devices.

Automatic Exploit Prevention – This unique technology prevents cybercriminals from using emerging vulnerabilities in legitimate software, commonly known as Zero Days, to launch malware attacks. By proactively monitoring the behavior of commonly-exploited software, such as Adobe and Java, Automatic Exploit Prevention will protect customers from undiscovered exploits and ensure customers are protected even if the latest updates to their legitimate programs have not yet been installed.

Password Manager – Secure passwords are a foundation for secure computing, yet all too often, users take the more convenient options of using simple passwords, reusing the same passwords for multiple accounts, or keeping a list of their passwords on a piece of paper next to their desk. With a password manager, employees can get back on track with good password habits, and only need to remember a single “master password.” Kaspersky Password Manager will store passwords in an encrypted vault, and automatically fill-in the correct password when needed. It can also create customized secure passwords for new accounts so employees won’t be tempted to re-use existing passwords, and enables employees to create a secure portable version of their password vault on a USB drive.

Online Backup – Small businesses can now automatically save their critical data securely in the cloud or to a local hard drive or server. By making the backup process simpler, small businesses can be assured their most important business plans, financial records, and customer data will remain accessible in case of equipment failure or accidental deletion.

Protection and Control with Ease
The most compelling feature of Kaspersky Small Office Security is its ease of use, which makes advanced protection technologies accessible and straightforward for small business owners. By de-mystifying features like data encryption and web policy controls through wizard-driven menus and one-click options, Kaspersky Small Office Security makes the benefits of web usage policies, data encryption, and central management available to businesses of all sizes.

Web Policy Management – Business owners can easily customize each employee’s ability to access websites, social networks, and applications. This can include individual websites, or entire categories of websites that are classified by Kaspersky Small Office Security.

Data Encryption and File Backup – Not only can business owners enable automatic file backups on each PC at scheduled intervals, but the files on both the PC and the backup storage can also be protected with powerful encryption settings. Data encryption ensures that the most sensitive data in a business – such as product designs and customer financial information – is never vulnerable to theft, unauthorized access, or accidental deletion.

Central Management – From any PC on the network, owners can remotely manage the security settings described above on every employee computer, along with additional management capabilities such as license renewal, monitoring of security settings, and more.

Kaspersky Small Office Security supports up to 25 user licenses per business, which includes PCs (Windows XP through Windows 8), file servers, and Android smartphones and tablets. Each user license includes protection of 1 PC and 1 mobile device, so businesses that purchase protection for 10 employees can protect 10 PCs and 10 mobile devices. Kaspersky Small Office Security also supports popular Windows file servers, including Windows Server 2008 R2; Small Business Server 2011 Essentials/Standard; and Windows Server 2012 Foundation/Essentials/Standard. Kaspersky Lab will include support for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 later in Q4 2013.

Kaspersky Small Office Security is available for purchase at computer retailers and the Kaspersky Lab e-store. Kaspersky Small Office Security can also be purchased through local authorized Kaspersky Lab resellers, who can provide hands-on assistance with installation and configuration, as well as future support.

QUOTES:
Chris Doggett, Senior Vice President of Corporate Sales
Kaspersky Lab North America
“Small and mid-sized businesses are primary drivers of the North American economy, and unfortunately, cybercriminals have ‘followed the money’ by targeting even the smallest businesses which often lack the necessary protection to secure their finances and business data. With Kaspersky Small Office Security, we’re eliminating any barriers that could make a very small business owner think our premium protection is too advanced or too costly for them to use. Kaspersky Lab remains committed to providing the best protection for SMBs and Enterprises alike, and this latest product for very small businesses remains a truly unique offering in the market.”

Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer
Kaspersky Lab
“Kaspersky Small Office Security is one of our company’s best examples of combining the IT security industry’s best protection technologies into a form that anyone with even modest computer knowledge can easily understand. Shortening the learning curve has always been a priority for our small business products, and the latest version of Kaspersky Small Office Security ensures business owners can purchase the product on their lunch break, and have it fully installed across their business by end of day.”

About Kaspersky LabKaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 16-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

* The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2012. The rating was published in the IDC report "Worldwide Endpoint Security 2013–2017 Forecast and 2012 Vendor Shares (IDC #242618, August 2013). The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2012.